Five Reasons Why Halo: Combat Evolved is the Most Important Game of the Decade

What makes the most important game of a decade? Most many units sold? Best critical rating? Most swear words per sentence/nude pixelated women? I think we can take it one step farther. How about most consoles sold?

Individual game don't sell consoles. That's a general rule that you find for game consoles, something PC gamers don't have. If you wanted to play Doom 3, you bought a brand new videocard, and that was final. But if a game comes out on the N64 and you have a PlayStation, screw it, you'll play it at a friend's house.

Halo literally carried the original Xbox on it's back. Halo made the Xbox not the other way around. It also helped push FPS on consoles (following the success of Goldeneye and PD) and online competitive play on consoles to new heights. While I'm not very satisfied with this gen of Halo games, there's no denying that Halo CE and Halo 2 really paved the way for this generation.

no matter how many may refuse to give halo credit that game single-handedly made paved a path for today's gaming psyche.. need to play FPS on console... coop-ing with friends in all sorts of matter to vehicle( damn i remember getting in a warhog in halo1 with a friend that was some freaking amazing thing when i played it on PC.. i was like omg we are playing together.. ).. then it really pushed XBOXlive and which made PSN in away more competitive and jump into online gaming ... coz frankly i remember when ps3 was out .. it was not really coined as used heavily for the online part.. it was there for the rituality but not till there are so much buzz to play over the internet with a friend..

halo1 and halo2 made me a game freak.. yes.. it got me to buy my first xbox1 and get into hardcore gaming.. as i am today..

all respect well given to this title..

hate it or love it.. BUNGIE did some big big stuff by making this game..

if there was not halo= NO XBOX = and extra 7 YEARS plus b4 online console gaming really takes off = NO COMPETITION FOR AAA TITLES from both sony and MS.= NO CONSOLE WAR :P... (cant leave the bad stuff out lool)

But i would say it was the most important game for the fps genre....Most important game of the decade has to be gta3, even if halo sold xbox's and kept ms relevant, I strongly believe that gta3 had a bigger impact on the gaming landscape than halo:ce

Halo single handily showed that FPS games can be down very well and be popular on home consoles. Not only that, they continued that innovation again folllowing up with the release of Halo 2 and Xbox LIVE. This time showing that not only can online gaming be really done on a home console, but also done really well for a FPS. Halo 3...didnt do much.

I think Halo really is the most important game, or at least, series of the decade.

one thing that you have to give credit to Halo CE was that it was probaly the 1st game to perfectly balance and tune weapons so you never felt that you had the short end of stick,lets say if you were using a pistol and someone else was using a needler (pistol is my weapon of choice)you had just as much chance of killing that person as each weapon has its ups and downs , even to this day there arn't many games that have nailed what halo has done in weapon balancing.

Halo Combat Evolved is one of my all time favourte games which is saying alot especially seeing as im not a big fan of FPS.

BUT I'm not about to claim it's the most important game in a DECADE. I think it did some important things and brought some important innovations to the genre, and it might be the most important if you want to look at total sales of the entire series. But I'm not about to pretend it satisfies all the potential measures of "most important", and I would never in a thousand years expect everyone to agree either way.

It may be true that Halo was important in terms of impact on the gaming industry.

But overall I think it is sad that these games are so successful. There are so many games out there that are actually funny, aesthetically pleasing and challenge your imagination and intellect.

Nevertheless people only seem to buy shooters where the setting is only focussed on delivering a stage for special effects and blowing things up (COD:MW2). War has been degraded to a background phenomena that is accepted and not thought over (just like in the real life in the US).

True. HALO to the Xbox is very relevant. It also made FPS games the most popular on the family of consoles. Unfortunately, it also made the FPS genre, the single-most popular on the systems. Many FPS gamers flock to the 360 because of all the FPS games available on the system. Many gamers only get a 360 FOR the HALO games. Not a bad thing, but many of the really big games in different genres on the 360 don't do nearly as well. You can't say that RARE's games on Microsoft's platforms do nearly as well as they did on Nintendo consoles in years past.

There are far more properties on the other consoles that identify them. Nintendo does have Mario, and he's the single-most recognisable character in the family. As well as Samus Aran, Fox McCloud, Link, and the entire family of Mario characters.

Even more games identify the Sony brand. On the original PlayStation, Final Fantasy was possibly the largest brand that identified with it. Other than that, many JRPG franchises continued the tradition. If not JRPGs, many developers saw their companies come to life on the PS family. Naughty Dog had the Crash Bandicoot trilogy. Insomniac had the Spyro games. Konami and Kojima Hideo had Metal Gear Solid. Capcom continued the Breath of Fire series from the SNES on PS1. Naughty Dog had the Jak & Daxter series on PS2. Insomniac continued their greatness with the Ratchet & Clank series on PS2. Kojima continued the excellence that is the MGS series on PS2 as well. The Final Fantasy series continued on PS2 with 2 great JRPGs in FFX and FF12. They had even more games than that which proved great like Valkyria Profile 2 and much more.

On PS3, we have the new Uncharted series, the new Ratchet & Clank series, Resistance, WipeOut HD and so on and so forth. The largest and greatest diversity of games comes on the newest PS platform, as it has always been since 1995. Argue if you must, and as always, I happily invite peoples' disagreements.

Nintendo is an exception to the rule that proves how relevant the rule is to reality. How many times has a console which is so full of crappy shovelware and so scarce in quality games become the most successful console in the market?

dude seriously .. u really REALLLY think halo is that generic that if something has halo slapped on it IT WONT SELL?.. are u f**king kidding me.. tell me one thing that has halo that hasnt sold.? isnt tha brand awareness ?... mario is big big big.. but halo is just coming right behind to become some pop-cultural figure.. weda u like it or not.. its happening already.. watch the sales of anything halo ... it is sure to sell..

edit: not to mention its a franchise that made.. multiplayer so freaking A MUST HAVE of everything now... every FPS on console has taken a page off halo in some sort of way especially in the MP department... its the reason y there is so much saturation of FPS on consoles now.. it was the reason Resistance was made to be the HALO KILLER..how many halo killers have come since halo was made.. should i start to mention? HAZE, RESISTANCE, KILLZONE.. lol come on..and u think halo didnt make an impact... lol

heck i looked at my achivements the other day.. i have played a total of 179 games to date on my 360 and 48 of them are FPS that is alot.. and i play all sorts.. not just FPSers

vvvvv reply..

dude u statement was u refered to halo and another franchise .. and i said.. mario is big big big.. but the whole halo and master chieft stuff.. is getting bigger by the second it wont be long that some ppl will grow out of mario and may want to embrace a more .. mature figure who do u think is next of kin.? with popularity in gaming ... the man in the green armour.. obviously.

Oh no, Halo will sell that's for sure. I'm just saying Mario (the character) is a lot bigger than Halo or any other video game franchise could ever be. I mean think about it. Mario is associated with gaming as whole not just Nintendo consoles, but all of gaming. I'm not bashing Halo or anything, but a LOT more people around the entire world know about Mario yet don't have a clue who Master Chef is. See my point?

And where in my comment did I say it was generic or lame or that it doesn't sell? Seriously, some people read too much into my comments.

You happen to forget to mention that Mario games span across different genres whereas Halo just covers one, the FPS. Also, Nintendo also has additional popular franchises like Pokemon, Zelda, Metroid etc.

He makes a valid point while Halo is undeniably Microsoft's biggest chess piece that doesn't mean they don't have lots of rooks and bishops moving around on the board. Just like Mario is Nintendo's biggest player doesn't mean Metroid, Zelda, Pikmin, etc. aren't playing as well.

From the story, characters, voice acting, great graphics, well thought-out gameplay, memorable boss battles, incredible production values, all wrapped up in an unforgettable cinematic experience that was unseen yet for a videogame at that time.

You might say it's the blueprint of modern videogames. Alot of videogames we have now today owes alot to MGS, and yep that includes HALO.

5. This reason fails, because Golden Eye, was the one that popularizes FPS on consoles.

4. Machinima? Good grief, I've been watching machinimas long before Halo's 1st and for the most part made from Unreal and Source. Besides the only machinima I know from Halo are Blue vs Red.

3. It's called milking. Maybe you haven't heard of other dairy produce like Mario and FF? As for map creation and sharing, other FPS have done it before HALO, besides I thought this was about Halo: Combat Evolved being the most important game of the decade? Then how come you list features from other Halo game? If the first game didn't have them , then it didn't have them. No need to pull feature sets from other game in the series to somehow prove your reasoning is true, because it isn't.

4 and 5. Well they are both the same, I won't argue because it is true.

I still stand by my first argument, I think MGS is the most important game of the decade and that this article should be renamed "Halo: Combat Evolved is the most important game for XBOX and MS".

Metal Gear Solid did not influence as much as you say. It's a great series, but if every game took a page out of MGS, then there wouldn't be as many genres as there are.

As it stands, you cannot say that every developer thinks about MGS when they think about how they're going to design video games.

You cannot even say that about Halo.

However, you could argue that most stealth game developers will look up to MGS in some way or another.

And you can also argue that most console FPS shooter developers look up to either Halo or Doom or a particular revolutionary FPS game. I don't know if that game is Halo. But I would argue that it might be Halo since a lot of games are now incorporating multiplayer modes. Games which we never thought would have online modes, like Grand Theft Auto. It might have nothing to do with Halo's style or gameplay, and more to do with the success of Halo as an online game on consoles.

Just FYI, Metal Gear Solid wasn't released in this decade, unless you count the crappy PC port. I agree with this article, although I've always thought and still think that Halo is rubbish compared to other shooters out there (Half-Life in particular makes it look pretty poor).

Dude, I wasn't talking about the genre. If you've read my comment, you will know that I did not mention it, even though MGS pioneered the stealth-espionage genre.

Its everything else about it, that we find on every videogame several years later bears the imprint of MGS and its undeniable legacy, that I'm commenting about.

Like the voice-acting, though a feature that's been done before but not on the level of MGS.

Incredibly production values, that divides the line between what is a Triple A game and what is a normal one. Truly raising our expectation and appreciation for a videogame.

Besides, MGS was the first game to really straddle the line between videogames and movies, by using story-telling techniques derived from the latter and implementing it on the former. Though alot of game tried this before, MGS was the first to really succeed, thereby delivering the first truly cinematic experience for a videogame. This legacy and many more are found on games today like Uncharted, COD and yes HALO.

When you compare Halo to other shooters on the market, it does seem generic. Although I do agree that Halo and Halo 2 were revolutionary during their time, Halo 3 and ODST are just more of the same nowadays.

And of course people are going to talk more about Halo than MGS. It's MS's flagship title and it sells like hotcakes. MGS4 isn't a title for anyone, it's for the fans. That's why you don't hear too much about it. With any of the Halos, anyone can pick up, play it, and know what's going on.

Same goes to Halo it's for the fans. thats why alot of people don't enjoy it

Halo 3 = Halo 2 with tweaks in gameplay. everyone liked the multiplayer of Halo 2 and they made some changes. they added new weapons, vehicles, equipments that never been in Halo 2. they also added forge and theater mode which most of the shooters these days don't have it. 4 online co-op, host migration, File share, Bungie net and how you download things from the website and bring it to Halo such as maps and game modes, Huge customization in custom games, unlocking armors for the multiplayer character, collecting skulls in the campaign and let's not forget about the weekly updates that make the multiplayer fresh everyweek.

Are those not enough ?

Changing the gameplay could be a big risk for them. Like someone like me who plays Halo 3 from launch, adding perks might hurt the game and then we feel like we are not playing Halo we are playing something else but I think it will have a big change in Reach and Bungie said that they will do something new and might be a risk.

and what I know about MGS4 it was a more of an action game than the previous ones and Kojima didn't like it because he wanted to attract western people for it. I don't know maybe I'm wrong about it

Metal Gear Solid started in 1998, Goldeneye in like what, 1996 or 97, the title of this article as well as the story is that halo is the most important game of THIS decade not the most important of the 1990s. Or do you not know the definition of a decade (which is a 10 year span if you did not know)?

What you say is definitely true. Halo 3 is a definite improvement and the fans (like you) enjoy the new features that were added to it. But my point is that when you compare it to other games (Killzone 2, Call of Duty, ect.), it has a mediocre feel with a lack of depth. It's probably because I'm not a die-hard fan of Halo, but IMO there are tons more FPS's that are of higher-quality and make Halo LOOK generic. My hope is that Reach changes my opinion because the Halo franchise is something that I'd like to like, but it lacks what I want in a game.

As far as MGS4 goes, I am a fan of the series and I can say that I enjoyed the game thoroughly. I know that the game didn't turn out the way Kojima wanted it to, but that doesn't mean that he was totally disappointed. When I say "for the fans", I'm mainly talking about the story. It's the conclusion to a very complex, convoluted storyline, and for the people who have never played an MGS title, it's more than confusing. Compare that to Halo which has an easy-to-follow story. Also, the stealth gameplay is something that most people aren't used to, versus Halo which is an FPS (a genre that almost everyone is familiar with). MGS4 was definitely westernized, but it didn't take away from the experience that fans wanted. So when I say "mainstream" and "for the fans", that's what I mean.

Like I said, I'd really like to see Reach change my opinion about the Halo series, and honestly, I have faith in Bungie. They're a very talented developer and I know they're capable of making Reach an amazing title. But they better make it stick out from the crowd in order to get my attention (something Halo 3 didn't do).

Yeah, I play a lot of games from varying genres, and to tell ya the truth, FPS is one of my least favorite genres. Don't get me wrong, I do like them. But I'm more of an RPG and Adventure kind of guy. That definitely has something to do with my opinion. Also, I prefer story over multi anyday, so that's another reason why I'm not the biggest fan of Halo (and even why I'm a bigger fan of MGS). I mean, the story's there, but it needs a lot more depth, something I hope Reach will have. Hopefully Bungie goes all in with it.

Halo undoubtedly has contributed to the acceptance of the xbox brand in households across the world.

The resulting market penetration of the xbox successor, the 360, was thus arguably partially enabled by Halo and has shown the industry that competition is fierce amongst manufacturing competitors.

Gamers and consumers have never had it so good, as a result. Companies are literally falling over themselves to give value and get marketshare to consumers. Sony is in its third year and has yet to post a single quarter of ps3 profits. This shows the extent to which competition has narrowed the margins.

If Halo did indeed 'make' the xbox, then I am utterly grateful, because the resulting competition has raised standards across the board and improved the purchasing power of gamers, of that there can be no doubt.

In this sense, maybe Halo is indeed "the Most Important Game of the Decade".

If Halo had failed, Would MS have even released a 360? Would there be pressure on Sony to release a slim? Would there be pressure on Sony to drop prices by 50% since launch while still in their third year?

Any reasonable person would answer 'NO'.

I guess Halo was quite important, in so many ways! ----------------------------- ---------------------

edit: Jesus, Saaking, that was quick... are you on here 24/7? Anyway... what about the Halo lovers in Australia, Africa, UAE, India, Asia, New Zealand, Germany, Finland, Spain, Italy, Denmark. etc?

Is this a joke i think wow pretty much made machinama popular. Game of the decade is wow hate it love it but it much bigger then halo and is now the bench mark for every mmo. Their are so many more important games then halo.

He's 100% correct. If you look at sales of Halo 3, close to 75% sold were sold to Americans. Americans love Halo.

Contrast that to other games like Uncharted 2 or even GTA4 and both the 360 and PS3 and you'll find that it's usually closer to 50% are bought in the US, 50% are bought elsewhere.

It's pretty clear from the sales that Halo is more a US phenomenon than anything else. That's not to say that it's sold badly other countries, it's hasn't. Halo 3 still managed to move 3 million copies outside of the US which is outstanding for any game, but you can't argue that this is, first and foremost, a US dominated game.

This also shouldn't be that surprising considering 60% of the 360's sold worldwide were sold in the US. US gamers prefer the 360 while when you look at Wii and PS3 sales the majority of those consoles are sold outside of the US.

^^^ Not all Americans (maybe for American children I would agree). I for one and quite a few friends/family can't be bothered with it...we are more about REAL skilled FPS's for PC and Consoles~ CS, Killzone 2, Some Quake, Half Life series, AvP's, SOME CoD's (more-so for PC), MoH's, DoD, Doom, Tom Clancy's and quite a few others. Sorry but Halo is for misinformed kids who believe that is what a FPS is supposed to be like. Nope.

Are you a Halo PR man? You can't compare Halo to Mario there miles apart and not even close. Even in the USA or UK today i can walk into the street and ask who Master Chief is and most people will have no idea (especially if they aren't into gaming seriously), i can walk into the same street ask the same set of people do you know who Mario is? Most if not all will know who Mario is weather it's an old lady a young child.
Halo managed to keep the Xbox alive and has changed gaming that way but it didn't create the fps genre. The genre had been on the PC for a long time and many people were expectng console to take up on mass later down the line however it was going slow.
In this department Halo managed to speed up console acceptance of fps games.

I do agree with al the above. But really it was only a matter of time before someone brought something forward to bring the proper fps to console. Halo was an opertunist. But you can't argue with a opertunist that sold a gaming generation can you ;).

Only idiot Xbots can call this the most important game of the decade,when it's pretty easy to see GTA III's influence in every 3D game released since then,and the mass acceptance of mature themes in gaming.Imo,the best exclusive game series on the Xbox is Gears Of War.

Not sure if I can give it that big of an ovation, but I'd say it's the most important...hmm....most important console FPS of the decade. It's the first one to take a step up after Goldeneye and Perfect Dark, but it's hard to even give it that with how great Half-Life 2 was. It made console FPSs popular again after a drought, that's about all I can give it. That game seemed like it was alot of people's first FPS too. PC gamers